Walker Russell

Walker Russell - Now 31, Russell seems to be done with the D-League, and started the season on a short term contract with Galatasaray. He left before the season started and is now unsigned. Russell's pass-first skill set is refreshing, but it is difficult to be a heady veteran when you have only one year of high level play to your credit.

Walker Russell - 4 games, 30.0 mpg, 18.3ppg, 0.8 rpg, 5.0 apg, 2.0 spg, 0.3 bpg, 2.5 TOpg, 47% FG, 21% 3PT, 80% FT

[...] Zhejiang then struggled through the Rafer Alston saga. They were in talks with Alston from as far back as October, but were initially unable to sign him to a contract. This is partly because, when they booked flights for Alston, he never got on them. They revisited him in the New Year when they needed a replacement for Crittenton, and this time they signed him to a deal. But there wasn't a whole lot of trust between the two parties; in Alston's eighth and final game with the team, he took himself out of the game due to injury, yet refused to go to the hospital after the game. He then returned to the States to attend the funeral of a close friend, at which point the team had had enough and told him not to come back. They then brought in Russell, a D-League veteran who had averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 assists per game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants before his switch, who fits into the pass-first point guard mode that Alston never quite did.

Walker Russell - Russell has never played in the NBA, aside from a training camp stint with the Isiah-era Knicks in 2007. A few trips to Europe have not gone very well, including a tryout in Germany to begin this season, and Russell has returned to the D-League with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, where he ties with Daniels for third in the league in assists at 8.2 per game. This is particularly impressive considering that he has paired up for much of the season with Lafayette, another premier D-League point guard. As is often the case, Russell struggles from the outside, shooting only 3-17 on the season from three, but he contributes 15.8 points of his own whilst being emphatically a pass first player. But as with others before him, Russell's size (6'0) and lack of outside shot have thus far negated the passing from an NBA perspective. Also counting against Russell is his age; something of a late bloomer, he turned 28 in October.

Walker Russell - 7 games, 24.4 mpg, 8.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.9 fpg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 33% FG, 30% 3PT, 75% FT

Walker Russell - whose name was often listed as Russell Walker in Puerto Rican media, at least in the early going - led the D-League in assists in 2008-09, firmly planting himself on the NBA's radar. However, this follow-up season has not gone too well. After two and a half years of D-League paychecks, Russell started out on his own this year, but managed only a brief stint in Bulgaria (13.7 points and 5.5 assists for Lukoil Akademik), and only three weeks with Quebradillas, before he and Nailon were dropped for Redhage and Jones. Russell turns 28 this offseason, so if he's going to start getting paid, this is the time.

- Walker Russell

After spending at least part of the last three seasons with the D-League's Fort Wayne Mad Ants - including averaging 16.1 points and 10.8 assists per game there last season - Russell left the D-League this year to go and get some paychecks. He started this year with Lukoil Akademik, the only Bulgarian team you've ever heard of, partly because they normally play in the EuroChallenge and partly because they can land some go. Russell left the team in January after ten games, in which he averaged 13.7 points and 5.5 assists, and moved to Puerto Rico the next month to sign with the Piratas De Quebradillas. However, he lasted only six games with the team, averaging 8.1 points and 5.4 assists, before being released for Australian guard Shawn Redhage. Russell manages to rank second in both leagues in assists per game, despite the short durations of both of his stays.